Gone Tomorrow
by smoke and steel
Summary: Non Massacre. Shinobi can be gone in an instant as Godaime Uchiha Itachi knows well, seeing as he sent his own brother to Orochimaru. But this, as is anything else to do with Sakura Haruno, is personal.
1. Chapter 1

Gone Tomorrow

Chapter 1. Now; Duty

Shinobi by rights only live in the present, because somewhere they know they could be gone tomorrow. Gone in an instant. Because they love what they know, the present keeps them grounded.

Shinobi are also never optimists; from the Hokage with his high ranking jutsu's, to the genius from the important clan, to the lowest Academy student. Even though many had optimistic facades, they were pessimists in the privacy of their own mind.

For Uchiha Itachi, arguably one of the best shinobi in Konoha since Madara (the forbidden name) it was no different. Even the resident genius of the Uchiha clan was bound by the same mortality that others beneath him held.

"Godaime-sama, I have reports from the medical offices. I need your-"

The pink haired woman cut herself off abruptly when she noticed the sight of Uchiha Itachi, 5th Hokage, sleeping at his desk with his dark clothing, more fit for an ANBU operative, slightly askew and his head in his arms.

Sakura grinned, a little bitterly, (for she knew what Konoha really was), and gracefully turned to slip away, but was stopped by Itachi's smooth baritone.

"No need Sakura, I'll look at those reports now"

Sakura was slightly surprised by the familiar address but she shook herself mentally and placed the box of reports on the obsessively neat desk.

Sakura slumped bonelessly on the couch of the office exhausted from Tsunade's intensified training and nonstop duties.

The familiar ache in her chest as she looked at Itachi's weary visage intensified until it was almost physical; one that she couldn't heal. She sighed and ignored her ravaged heart as she tore her face away and let the peaceful oblivion of sleep wash over her.

Usually silence didn't bother Itachi, he in fact preferred it, but he felt silence eat him away as he waited for Sakura to say something. Finally giving into the temptation he glanced at the worn face of the young pink haired kunoichi and saw her eyes closed in sleep, brows furrowed. For years they had skirted the feelings that laid heavily between them because of their duties to their honor and village… what would it have been like if he had claimed her as his own? If they had the family they so desired but avoided?

For once Itachi had no answers.

The sun beat down heavily on the stone of the Hokage Monument and the lone figure sitting on her father's carved head. Long blond hair with streaks of red waved behind _Naruka_ Uzumaki, not the blond idiot she constantly played every day.

The woman's heart within her weighed heavily even more so with the absence of the one who owned it.

Sasuke…

She was so tired, tired of hiding what she was from her friends, her family, so tired of hiding her femininity (unless it was the kunoichis of her generation who never judged her), yet hesitant to see her friends reactions to what she had kept from them for so long.

Yes, her genjutsu was damning but also safe.

She did what she had to do for the village but it just made her feel emptier. Her last letter from _him_ to _Naruto_ (his ignorance hurt her) was three months old and crumpled in her shaking hand.

A lone tear escaped and slid down her tan face.

Shinobi are not optimists, suffocated by doubt, and Uzumaki Naruto was no exception.


	2. Chapter 2

Gone Tomorrow

Chapter 2. Then; Love Never Seen

Sarutobi looked around the crowded council room with jaded blaming eyes, not quite masked, before dropping the metaphorical bomb.

"I declare this contract void. Uchiha Itachi is my successor"

All was unusually quiet within the room; wars had been declared, families' murders forgiven, innocents sent to death, in that room but never one event prevented.

Everyone stared at the ripped scroll on the floor while the Third Hokage calmly puffed away on his pipe.

The stoic boy in the center of the room had his head bowed low so none could see his tears of relief. But everyone knew the Elders could not keep their mouths shut for long, and of course this day was no exception.

"The Uchiha will still revolt, Sarutobi. Don't be a soft hearted fool"

Everyone noticed the lack of respect and title "They must be dealt with"

"You wish for me to rid Konoha of the Sharingan and force one of it's most powerful shinobi to become our enemy? I have already pressed upon Fugaku what was at stake and made a deal with him"

"You- you cannot-"

"Have you forgotten who is Hokage? It is within my power"

"Have you forgotten what the Uchiha can do to this village?" the Elder countered.

"So you will have me murder innocents because of Madara? My word is final"

Seeing the Elders splutter Sarutobi let a grin overtake his face for the first time in years. He knew this was the right thing to do; something Minato would do.

Yes, Minato would be proud of him.

As always Shimura Danzou watched, waiting within the shadows that never quite left him. A cold assessing eye the portal to agendas long buried deep, and stagnating beneath the worn exterior, mind as sharp as ever.

Sarutobi had thrown a wrench into his plans, but he always won. Konoha was his to protect from it's ruining ideals.

This was only the beginning.

Within a month the restrictions placed on the clan disappeared subtly but not completely unnoticed by others. Few trusted the former clan heir and showed it but he was anything but charismatic. The digs and seclusion rolled off his thick skin but hurt him inside, seeing so many of his peers and comrades prejudiced against his name.

The shadows of the past were still buried beneath the surface.

Tsunade was the slowest to accept the change, the rivalry between two of the great clans a hard barrier to overcome.

An Uchiha Hokage, an unforeseen change that many condemned.

But the pride of the Uchiha clan shattered expectations. It was something he did regularly.

The Sarutobi family were the most accepting, a second family who had the true affection that his parents couldn't show. They were always the peacemakers.

Hiruzen and Asuma trained the boy, taught him, accepted him, befriended him. Perhaps they saw the same pacifist spirit that all the previous Hokages claimed and he did not disappoint them.

It was because he was so different that he became a favorite in the politics of the shinobi nations. Even the Kyuubi child, who held dreams of following in his hero's footsteps held no ill will towards the successor. Instead of rivals they became 'brothers'. They understood rejection and held heavy expectations placed upon them and the generations of friendship ran through their veins.

Sasuke and 'Naruto', however, warred like sun and moon but none could deny that they would be the greatest partnership Konoha had ever seen. There was obvious camaderie hidden underneath the childish enmity.

A vessel, demon child, grew up with two brothers who protected her and accepted the heavy weight of the nine tailed fox trapped underneath her skin.

Mikoto became a second mother to the blonde child that reminded her so much of Kushina and Minato.

Naruka found a family in the strict clan who never betrayed her. In time the other clans main families became extended family. All of Konoha's ninja took her into their lives and families until she had a patchwork family the length of the sky. But only one family was first in her heart. And after many years the boy she considered her brother and rival became her cherished love.

The boy who never saw the truth held her heart. Sasuke was her darkest night and the scion of the Namikaze clan was Sasuke's brightest day.


	3. Chapter 3

Gone Tomorrow Chapter 3. Now; Red Cloud Kisses

Sakura wasn't sure when she had fallen in love with Itachi, but seeing him destroyed her a little each day.

_To love is to destroy._

For all her other faults Sakura was a realist and wouldn't allow herself to dream of an impossible future with someone who could never be hers.

She had fallen in love with the man underneath the Hokage robes; the handsome, loyal to a fault, pacifist, kind, withdrawn, passionate, at times painfully shy man.

Her memories of him were a history of glances: him asleep at his desk. Handing her the required first seduction mission scroll at 16 with a quietly intense expression glinting in his dark eyes. The day she came back to his quiet 'I'm sorry' as she handed him the mission report. The feel of his arms around her when he caught her after her fight with Sasori for the second time in the horror of the Pain Invasion, staining his clothes with her blood. The simple flowers left in the hospital after an especially difficult mission on the windowsill (Itachi hardly ever used the door). Healing him after his battle with Madara and trying not to cry when she saw the gaping wound with his ribs emerging from the skin and she could see his heart beating under the cracked ribs as poison burned the skin at the edges of the wound.

She had to hold back the bile burning up her throat. The tangy, burning smell that stayed on her hands for days afterward.

Waking up from a nightmare screaming because she couldn't save him as he died, sleepless nights curled up in bed as her soul cracked a little more under the strain of loving a man who was beyond her reach.

She watched helplessly as countless women threw themselves at him because he was a young, attractive Hokage with a connection to an old, powerful clan.

The door opened under her fingertips as she pushed against the entrance of the office.

Itachi looked up as Sakura shut the door soundlessly behind her and watched, transfixed, as she crept up to his desk with feline grace.

"I have a report from Sasuke. His mission is complete and he wishes to return home" A pleasant tingle ran up his arms as their hands accidentally brushed against each other. He penned his reply quietly while Sakura waited patiently.

"Deliver this to my brother with Naruka"

"Yes… Itachi"

She turned and walked to door until Itachi was suddenly in front of her holding her arms before leaning down and crashing his lips down to hers.

Sakura's arms twined around his neck and tangled in his long hair as she kissed him back with equal passion. Her gasp as he nipped her lower lip had Itachi deepening the kiss, tasting her and fighting her tongue for dominance. They were so lost in the moment they forgot their reasons, all they knew was each other as Itachi backed the pink haired kunoichi into the wall and put his arms beside her head. But all things must come to an end as is the order of the universe and they broke apart for air reluctantly remembering every obstacle that shadowed what they had.

Emerald met onyx as they stared at each other silently.

"Be careful Sakura" Itachi finally said to her as he stalked to his desk and turned away until he heard her soft footsteps fleeing the room.

Neither noticed the shadowy figure watching outside the window.

He shifted and the light caught the red clouds on his cloak.


End file.
